Grippli
Grippli resemble small, intelligent, humanoid tree frogs. They are have a primitive culture and are nonaggressive. They stand 2½ feet tall and weigh 25 to 30 pounds. Their bodies are shaped like those of frogs, except for the human-like hands and hand-like feet. Their eyes are yellow with vertical slit pupils. Their skin is gray-green with camouflage stripes and swirling patterns. Although their skin looks wet and shiny, it is actually dry to the touch. Grippli smell of old, wet vegetation. They love bright colors and eagerly acquire any such items. They wear clothing only for decoration or for a particular functional purpose, such as for pockets. A normal encounter with grippli outside of the village finds them wearing only thin belts or loin cloths to hold weapons or acquired items. They speak a language of croaks, groans, clicks, and squeaks. In a tribe there is usually at least one member that can speak either common, elvish, or some other jungle humanoids' language. When speaking any language but their own, they are barely understandable because of the croaking resonances in their speech. Combat: Because of the grippli's coloring, opponents suffer a -3 penalty to their surprise rolls. Grippli defend themselves with snares, nets, poisoned darts, and the occasional sword or dagger. Any metal weapons must be manufactured elsewhere for the grippli, so swords are rare. They can adapt to use any weapons, and they have been known to use spears and blowguns on rare occasions. They never wear armor. Generally speaking the grippli prefer small weapons that don't get in the way of climbing. A grippli can climb trees or non-sheer rock at its normal movement rate, thanks to its unusual hands and feet. When keeping still among vegetation, a grippli's natural camouflage causes a -3 penalty to its opponents' surprise rolls. They have infravision good up to 10 yards, which means they can operate at night almost as well as during the day. They are very capable of formulating strategies and tactics to overcome a larger, more powerful force. Grippli prefer ambushes and traps to most other strategies. By trapping their opponents in snares and nets, they can hurl darts at them safely from high in the trees. If unprovoked, they attack only to steal various brightly colored baubles. Habitat/Society A grippli tribal village is made of small huts of wood and mud built on the ground, in the deep shadows of large trees. On rare occasions, a grippli village is found in the strong limbs of the trees. Each village is led by a tribe mother (AC 7, HD 3, 1d6+1 points of damage with a weapon). Once per day the tribe mother can emit a musk cloud, which is treated as a stinking cloud spell. She looks like any other grippli, except for being almost four feet tall. She has 1d3 mates of larger than normal size (AC 8, HD 2, 1d4+1 points of damage with poisoned weapons), standing three to three-and-a-half feet tall. The tribe mother is supposed to have a touch of the blood of their god in her. A typical village has 5d6 males capable of defending it. There are an equal number of noncombatant females and 1d6 offspring, also noncombatants. They have basic family units, just like humans, and each family has its own hut. The tribe mother's hut doubles as a temple to their small, frog-like deity. Other deities in the pantheon include evil snake gods and spider goddesses. Their natural high intelligence enables them to learn new devices and weapons quickly and easily. As a race they have no desire to manufacture such items themselves. However, they will trade for them with other races. Trade items usually include rare fruits or other hard-to-get jungle specimens. They are extremely cautious and only develop trade relations with groups that they trust completely, such as good elves or the rare village of good humans in their area. Ecology Grippli eat fruit and insects. They trap small insects in large quantities and hunt the giant varieties like humans hunt stags. They are in turn hunted by most large, ground- and tree-based predators. Giant snakes and spiders in particular are fond of grippli as meals. Grippli are rare in the world, mostly because of their low birthrate. They live to be 700 years old, but give birth to only six or so young in that time. Because of this, the grippli defend their young ferociously. Relations Grippli rarely interact with outsiders, as they live in the deepest regions of the wilds. If they have any outside interaction, it is with individuals of other races, and almost never on the level of a societal alliance. They sometimes abandon their villages if other races begin settling to close. When a gripplie village does make contact with other races, fey often serve as intermediaries as their strong connection to nature makes the grippli more comfortable around them. However a grippli's purpose for contacting the outside world rarely has anything to do with nature, as they enjoy strange inventions, masterwork items, and other such colorful and shiny objects. As such, grippli sometimes entreat their allies to seek out colonies of artificers or alchemists to trade with. Grippli tribes are generally peaceful nomads. They have no interest in mass warfare, and instead come easily to opportunities for trade with other tribes or races despite their cultural aversion to foreign influence. They eagerly trade crafts and services as wildlife guides or scouts in exchange for raw metals, food, and other basic resources. Grippli Lands: Grippli inhabit deep marshes and remote rainforests, both since these areas hold the giant insects they prey upon and keep them well secluded. The grippli of Q'barra are slightly more acclimated to the world outside their way of life than the tribes in other parts of Eberron. Q'barran grippli have the appearance of sleek amphibians, their coloration often reminiscent of poison dart frogs. These generally peaceful nomads have no interest in mass warfare, instead coming easily to opportunities for trade with other tribes and races. They eagerly trade their crafts and woodland services (often as scouts for armies, or as guides for travelers) in exchange for raw metals, food, and other basic resources. They take great exception to the presence of lizardfolk, however, and their tribes take on an almost child-like cruelty when the two races come into contact. Neither race is willing to speak with outsiders of whatever great injustices their ancestors committed to spark such uncharacteristic hatred among these two races, but the results of those sins are brutal. Wars between Q'barran grippli and the lizardfolk that live there are exceptionally violent, if not short-lived for the small number of warriors a nomadic tribe can support, and often take place in three dimensions – with the natural climbing prowess of the grippli race, their warriors make excellent tactical use of the "high ground," waging vertical wars against their foes as they climb down the trunks of the dense forests within the swamps. Q'barran grippli form settlements out of the very canopy of dense woodlands. Their homes, communal huts, and even the walkways between these buildings; all are woven together from the brnaches of closely-packed trees, vines, and other strong foliage. Foreigners find it difficult to access these villages, unless they hire a friendly guide or already know where to look – the grippli maintain vines and ladders that are specially made to camouflage into the surrounding environment, kept in working condition just for outsiders that the tribe has come to accept – or even adopt, in exceptional cases. The locations of these access points are jealously guarded, however, lest their enemies use them to launch surprise attacks from within their own communities. Tribes of grippli can be found in many other parts of Eberron, but only in the deep, tropical jungles of Xen'drik can they be found in any real concentration. Grippli in other parts of the world appear slightly larger and more lumberous than their sleeker cousins, more like large toads than tree frogs. Their dry and warty skin comes in far less vibrant shades than their Q'barran cousins, often greys, browns, or rusted scarlet. Xen'drik tribes of grippli live and hunt much closer to the ground, even going so far as to build their communities out of whatever materials they can find from the earth; lower-class citizens have huts made from sun-backed mounds of clay or mud, with rounded dwellings carved out of the center, their warriors live in homes of of straw, while shamans and tribal leaders tend to have prestigious homes of clay brick or wood. This is a cultural choice more than anything else. It isn't that the grippli of Xen'drik are unable to climb trees and function at those heights, but their larger size makes the effort more awkward and so they suffer from a cultural sense of discomfort when climbing trees. Grippli that are from from neither Q'barra or Xen'drik tend to lack the sedentary lifestyle of their more established cousins. These nomadic tribes live constantly on the move, chasing after the giant insects that grippli feed upon. Many do not build their own shelter, instead preferring to secure temporary homes in caves, dense woodlands with canopy-covered clearings, and the like. This lifestyle suits nomadic grippli well, as they tend to also be more savage and feral than their Q'barran or Xen'drik cousins, not above raiding other races or even other tribes of grippli for resources and slaves, and would likely make enemies of any neighbors they chose to settle by. Religion Most grippli can be found worshiping the inherent divinity of the natural world, their spiritual needs tended to by tribal druids and more mystically-inclined rangers (who typically serve their tribes as shamans during times of war or as the officiants of hunts). Though rare, it is not unheard of for a sorcerer or oracle to take on the mantle of priest to their kind, devoted to gods such as or if of a good or neutral alignemnt, or the if their tribe is evil. Two entirely distinct druidic sects can be found within the grippli communities, neither of which bears anything for the other but animosity and disrespect. On one side, the druids of Though their ancestors had developed similar traditions of their own in ages past, years of savagery had reduced these traditions to nohing bu shattered ancestral memories. On the other side, the grippli of Xen'drik and most of the rest of Eberron continue to preserve these ancient traditions, born from a true reverence of the inherent divinity of the world. The druids of khrovaire feel that their kin are not only anachronistic, but are also traitors to all life on Eberron. After all, while they lead the fight against the horrors of the Xoriat invasion, the druids of Xen'drik fought only to preserve their own lands from daelkyr influence and left the rest of the world to burn. The grippli druids of Xen'drik feel that their cousins from Khrovaire are false prophets and blasphemers; they draw their faith from truly believing that the world of Eberron itself is the divine, deriding any myth that gods or similar creatures ever had any influence on its formation. These druids feel that those from Khorvaire bear impure faith, instead of revering nature for its own divine sake they choose to draw power from it for the purposes of draconic influence and the will of false gods. Grippli respect a pantheon of beings which they believe to be the ultimate empaths. These gods do not manifest themselves on the Prime Material Plane as individuals, but exist within an entire species; each animal and plant has a portion of divinity within it. An exceptional member of a species is often regarded by the grippli as a representative of one of the gods. Grippli do not have the same concept of the afterlife that many intelligent beings share. Rather than images of paradise or hell which some races look forward to when they die, the grippli believe that they become part of a spiritual web of life called the cr'ohkala, or Forever Tree. Upon dying, the grippli believe, the spirit travels to meet the gods, who help it become part of the Forever Tree. Whatever role the grippli took in life, there is a part of the Forever Tree that will accept him; there is a branch for warriors, a branch for nurturers, a branch for gatherers, a branch for craftsmen. Even mute animals and plants become a part of the Forever Tree, often becoming one with the branch that represents their unique role in the world. In grippli theology, the gods are simply branches of the Forever Tree that have become unusually powerful and actively influence grippli life. *Wastri *Sah *Gr'oakel *Rheigg'r *Draugh'ger *Ro'rakar}} Language: Reclusive and slightly xenophobic, grippli prefer to speak in their own, unique language. However the events of the recent past have forced their tribes into more regular contact with the outside world than ever before, and so they have picked up Common as a means of trade, diplomacy, and a way of telling foreigners when their presence is not desirable. Adventurers: Of all the races on Eberron, grippli are perhaps the least likely to actually take up adventurer as a trade. Those few who do leave their forests or swamps tend to be craftsmen or alchemists, looking to trade their services and skills for raw materials to perform their crafts and experiments. Occasionally a young druid-in-training will take on the mantle of champion to his or her people, using the powers of nature to defend it against those who would invade and despoil the untarnished natural beauty of places that the griplli make their homes. Militant grippli might find their way into the world at large, either in search of allies and tools to aid their efforts against enemies (this is especially true of Q'barran grippli who seek to bring about the extinction of the lizardfolk), or because their aggressive ways clashed with the pacifistic teachings of their people and they were cast out of the tribe as punishment. Racial Traits: Grippli manifest different alternative racial traits depending on their specific clan. Those of the frog clan have long inured themselves to the toxins and poisons of the swamps of Q'barra, out of simple generational exposure more than anything else, and so often bear the toxic skin trait. Many of their "Tree Warriors," warriors specially trained to combat other threats that hide within the canopies that support their homes, also have the jumper trait. Xen'drik grippli, on the other hand, are a much more refined people; a fact that is ironic to no end, considering their insular ways and the wild savagery of their homeland. These individuals support the princely trait, as well as the glider trait; generations of aversion to high places has granted them with the ability to secure a softer, safer landing when their fears of falling prove all too founded. HISTORY The origins and history of the grippli are shrouded in mystery, even to themselves. As grippli do not keep records, except for those relevant to their worship, their past remains a subject of conjecture and guesswork. The prevailing theory holds that grippli exist now much as always, a humble race of peaceful recluses content with what the land provides and the world they know. This surprising peacefulness seems to stem from their simple faith in their nameless froglike goddess. With land providing them all they need and a faith to further content their modest lives, the grippli have had little need to change over the centuries. PHYSIOLOGY A typical grippli stands 2 to 2-1/2 feet tall and weighs approximately 30lbs., although the very old and particularly powerful hunters may stand and weigh twice these amounts. A grippli's head and body appear similar to those of a giant frog, but its hands and feet look humanlike. Grippli skin colour varies dramatically depending on their environment, ranging from the brown-splotched green of swamp grippli to vibrant blues, yellows and reds of the rainforest-dwelling tribes. Grippli rarely wear clothing, although they often decorate themselves with jewelry and trinkets that members of most other races consider gaudy. Grippli reach adulthood at 30 years and live to around 180 years old, while females live slightly longer on average than males. A female grippli gives birth at most six times in her life, becoming fertile at roughly 25-year intervals after she reaches maturity. RANDOM STARTING AGES Adulthood Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer Bard, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger Cleric, Druid, Monk, Wizard 30 years +2D6 +4D6 +6D6 AGING EFFECTS Middle Age Old Venerable Maximum Age 70 years 105 years 140 years +4D20 years RANDOM HEIGHT AND WEIGHT Gender Base Height Height Modifier Base Weight Weight Modifier Male 1'10" +2D4 20lbs. x1lb. Female 1'7" +2D6 15lbs. x1lb. PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIETY In the presence of strangers, grippli become noticeably skittish. They usually climb the nearest tree and hide, spotting other humanoids or any other creature deemed dangerous. Among their own kind or those they accept as friends grippli show their true character. Light-hearted and cheerful, they value familial bonds and simple pleasures of food, games, rest and shiny objects from the outside world. Other humanoids sometimes perceive relaxed grippli as blasé, even lazy, but a relaxed grippli might snap to full alertness at a moment's notice. Rarely interacting with outsiders, as they live in the deepest regions of the wilds. If they have any outside interaction, it is with individuals of other races and almost never on the level of a societal alliance. They sometimes abandon their villages if other races begin settling too close. When a grippli village does make contact with other races, wild elves or fey often serve as intermediaries as their strong connection to nature makes the grippli more comfortable around them. However, a grippli's purpose for contacting the outside world rarely has anything to do with nature, as they enjoy strange inventions, masterwork items and other colourful and shiny objects. As such, grippli sometimes entreat their allies to seek out colonies of gnomes to trade with. Grippli find dwarves and humans intimidating, too rarely encounter halflings to form an opinion and deeply fear anything that smells of orc, half-orcs included. They similarly fear giants and savage humanoids, particularly those who share their habitat. Grippli live in isolated family groups, clustered into loose villages led by an elder priestess known as the tribe mother. These families tend to be small, as the long-lived grippli produce few offspring. Few grippli apply themselves as craftsmen or artisans. Simple wood, stone and vine creations make up the majority of the weapons grippli use in hunting and defense, while they pass rare metal weapons and tools down through the generations as treasured heirlooms. Grippli rarely fashion even the simplest trade goods and more rarely do their spellcasters craft complex magic items, although potions, alchemical creations and herbal tinctures are quite common. Unscrupulous traders sometimes take advantage of the grippli, selling them worthless baubles in return for rare and valuable herbs, unguents and extracts from the deep jungle. The grippli do not see themselves as getting taken advantage of though. They understand the value outsiders place on their purchases, but they in turn prize brightly coloured glass, and eclectic collections of foreign signs brighten the majority of grippli homes. Their ties to nature and xenophobic tendencies cause grippli to tend toward neutral alignments. Predisposed to simple, relaxed lives with friends and family, the best grippli seem generous and helpful, while the worst seem indifferent. Thus if a grippli deviates from a purely Neutral alignment, it is usually in favour of Good, and only after the most tragic incidents towards evil. ENVIRONMENT Grippli live in swamps, jungles and rainforests in tropical or semi-tropical areas. They like moist and warm to hot climates. Tree-cover and a fresh water source are their main needs. Grippli inhabit deep marshes and remote rainforests, both since these areas hold the giant insects they prey upon and keep them well secluded. They construct small villages either on the ground or in the branches of large trees. Occasionally a grippli colony might take up residence in the branches of an especially large treant or make a floating community among a marsh's dense river vegetation. Grippli villages consist of simple huts made from branches or reeds. Most bear decorations, usually shiny objects, simple religious totems and woven flowering vines. Because the grippli share their environs with many larger, more dangerous creatures, their villages tend to be spread out and semi-nomadic. If one area suffers an attack, all the grippli in the village take to the trees and flee from branch to branch, leaving their few valuables behind. Only when the entire tribe is safely hidden do grippli warriors return to their village to combat their attackers. RELIGION Grippli devoutly follow the decisions of the tribe mother. In theory, this elder priestess holds divinely granted power over her village. In practice she rarely exerts that power, leaving the day-to-day leadership of the tribe to its most experienced hunters, often elder males. Grippli tribes require little governance in any case, each family making most of its own decisions, barring religious matters and a village-wide crisis or dispute. Grippli hold strong religious beliefs, although they rarely explain their faith to outsiders. Their chief deity is a nameless goddess, depicted in sculptures of wood and stone as a bulbous frog with vibrant rainbow skin. Most outsiders believe this amphibian deity to be nothing more than a strange, primordial forest spirit, but grippli revere her as the center of their religious lives. More often druids than clerics, females almost exclusively comprise the grippli clergy. Led by a community's tribe mother, these priestesses make most of the decisions and solve the disputes of the tribe, although they defer to the tribe mother in all matters. Like a stern grandmother, the tribe mother holds absolute authority over the community and speaks as the voice of the goddess herself. Although she always keeps the best intentions of her people in mind, the tribe mother holds many secrets of her people's faith, which she reveals only to her protégé and only when the time of her death nears. The few grippli clerics that exist most often serve abstract natural powers rather than the grippli goddess. Grippli accord seasonal and celestial events great religious significance and mark them with elaborate religious celebrations that all tribe members participate in. These frequent festivals and general racial levity make it seem that grippli celebrate frivolously, but they truly consider each event worth commemorating. These festivals always culminate in large ceremonies and offerings to the grippli goddess. To outsiders these ceremonies seem unusually extravagant as mountains of insect flesh, often enough to feed an entire grippli community for a season, are mixed with a strange pulpy paste and burnt as massive offerings. Although no visitor, and perhaps no grippli but the tribe mother, knows what this holy unguent consists of, preparations of all offerings include liberal treatment with this mixture. Grippli do not keep their ritual celebrations secret from other races, indeed the arrival of fey visitors ranks high among their reasons to celebrate. Unfortunately, most outsiders can not physically participate in these revels, which consist primarily of climbing, swimming, and tree-hopping competitions and amphibian voiced songs. In dark undertone to peaceful grippli life, some sages postulate that the grippli's nameless goddess might disguise an ancient aspect of Blibdoolpoolp, goddess of the Kuo-toa. If so, the aspect venerated by the grippli presents itself as a far more peaceful one, although there may lurk some sinister aspect to their worship than the grippli allow outsiders to witness. Spider and snake creatures round out the grippli religion as demons and evil spirits. The few grippli who know of the deities of other races consider the spidery drow goddess Lolth the chief enemy of their people, but she and her followers pay the grippli little, if any, heed. Each grippli village also venerates legendary hunters and priestesses, but none of these mythic figures transcend the boundaries of individual tribes. NAMES Grippli receive no surnames, although those who travel extensively often pick up nicknames from other races. These nicknames sometimes reflect an individual grippli's abilities or personality. More often than not, these nicknames reflect the other humanoids' notions of grippli as sharing traits with non-humanoid amphibians. Grippli do not place much importance on names as they identify each other more by sight than by words.. Many struggle to remember the names of non-grippli but have no trouble differentiating between individuals by other means. Male Names space Female Names space Nicknames Brillup Labllup Bellum Que Brightskin Ponddiver Bullgup Pribbll Durrill Quon Buldgeeye Tonguesticker Chirk Quortle Galli Ruue Deepcroak Treeskipper Fullrurp Rublup Kaillum Toum Duskskipper Webfoot Hubblik Willup Liruu Wuon Longtongue Widefingers LANGUAGE Throaty and guttural, grippli language consists of a wide range of croaks and rumbling words, all of which sound roughly the same to other humanoids. Although other races might learn the grippli language, they can not truly master it without the aid of magic. The common grippli knows no written language, although the priestesses of a community know and read Undercommon. Writing, however, is strictly taboo and only the tribe mother may create any record. Automatic languages are Grippli and Common. Bonus languages are Aquan, Elven, Gnome, Sylvan and Undercommon. Grippli often learn the languages of the few races they comfortably deal with. GRIPPLI AS CHARACTERS Survivors of devastated grippli villages most often become adventurers. Having lost their original tribes, they may wander to find new meaning and are forced to overcome their fears of the outside world. Other grippli rarely take to life on the road. Those that do earn their keep with their agility, climbing ability, wilderness expertise and in some cases, with their willingness to accept payment that other adventurers would consider beneath noticing. Occasionally a young grippli might become taken with the shiny baubles of the outside world and go adventuring in search of more. If they survive, such grippli usually retire to their village at a relatively young age, as their motivated more by wanderlust than by greed and this wears off more quickly. Racial Traits: +2 DEX, -2 STR: nimble and quick but slight. Well adjusted to darting through trees and lurking in the underbush, grippli avoid direct confrontation and exertion. Small: as a small creature grippli gain +1 size bonus to AC and a +1 size bonus on attack rolls as well as a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they use smaller weapons than humans and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character. Base land speed: 20 feet. Climb speed: 20 feet granting them the usual +8 racial bonus on Climb checks. Favoured class: Ranger: a multiclass grippli's ranger class does not count when determining whether they suffer an experience point penalty. [[Category:Humanoids